Field of the Technology
The present principles relate to communication systems.
Description of Related Art
Layered coding systems are commonly known and used throughout the communication industry. An example of such layered coding system is a MIMO (Multiple Input, Multiple Output) architecture. These multi-antenna systems have increased spectral efficiency through the use of spatial multiplexing.
A MIMO system is a system in which multiple transmit antennas and multiple receive antennas are employed. MIMO systems can generally achieve higher capacity in a rich-scattering environment compared to SISO (single input single output) systems. Different approaches can be used to achieve the MIMO capacity: a space-time code can be applied to multiple transmit antennas over multiple channel uses; a layered structure can also be applied where only a one-dimensional code is applied to each layer. Examples of layered structures are V-BLAST and D-BLAST structures proposed by Bell Labs. In V-BLAST, independently encoded data streams are sent through different transmit antennas. Hence, a layer represents one antenna in V-BLAST. In D-BLAST, the data-stream/antenna association is periodically cycled.
In general, a layered architecture means any interleaving method such that, at any time, different antennas belong to different layers and each antenna index belongs to one and only one layer at any time. A layer is the indexes of the antenna as a function of time. For purpose of illustration, a layered structure is shown in FIG. 1, where layer 1 from time index 1 to 7 is represented by antenna index 3, 2, 1, 3, 2, 1, 3.